Petrological, oxygen isotope and *Ar/"Ar studies were used to constrain the Tertiary metamorphic evolution of the lower tectonic unit of the Cyclades on Tinos. Polyphase high-pressure metamorphism reached pressures in excess of 15 kbar, based on measurements of the Si content in potassic white mica. Temperatures of 450-500" C at the thermal peak of high-pressure metamorphism were estimated from critical metamorphic assemblages, the validity of which is confirmed by a quartz-magnetite oxygen isotope temperature of 470" C. Some 40Ar/'yAr spectra of white mica give plateau ages of 44-40 Ma that are considered to represent dynamic recrystallization under peak or slightly post-peak high-pressure metamorphic conditions. Early stages in the prograde high-pressure evolution may be documented by older apparent ages in the high-temperature steps of some spectra.Eclogite to epidote blueschist facies mineralogies were partially or totally replaced by retrograde greenschist facies assemblages during exhumation. Oxygen isotope thermometry of four quartz-magnetite pairs from greenschist samples gives temperatures of 440-470" C which cannot be distinguished from those deduced for the high-pressure event. The exhumation and overprint is documented by decreasing ages of 32-28 Ma in some greenschists and late-stage blueschist rocks, and ages of 30-20 Ma in the lower temperature steps of the Ar release patterns of blueschist micas. Almost flat parts of Ar-Ar release spectra of some greenschist micas gave ages of 23-21 Ma which are assumed to represent incomplete resetting caused by a renewed prograde phase of greenschist metamorphism.Oxygen isotope compositions of blueschist and greenschist facies minerals show no evidence for the infiltration of a 6''O-enriched fluid. Rather, the compositions indicate that fluid to rock ratios were very low, the isotopic compositions being primarily controlled by those of the protolith rocks. We assume that the fundamental control catalysing the transformation of blueschists into greenschists and the associated resetting of their isotopic systems was the selective infiltration of metamorphic fluid. A quartz-magnetite sample from a contact metamorphic skam, taken near the Miocene monzogranite of Tinos, gave an oxygen isotope temperature of 555°C and calculated water composition of 9.1%. The value of ~3~~0 obtained from this water is consistent with a primary magmatic fluid, but is lower than that of fluids associated with the greenschist overprint, which indicates that the latter event cannot be directly related to the monozogranite intrusion.

This study presents new Rb-Sr age data concerning the metamorphic evolution of the AtticCycladic Crystalline Belt which represents a complex polymetamorphic terrane within the Alpidic orogenic belt of the Hellenides. Two major groups of tectonic units can be distinguished. Metamorphism in parts of the upper units is commonly considered as a Cretaceous event. In contrast, the group of lower units experienced Tertiary high-pressure metamorphism which was followed by a medium-pressure overprint. We focus on the island of Tinos where a representative spectrum of the rock units found in the Cyclades is exposed in three tectonic units: the Upper Unit, the Intermediate Unit and the Basal Unit. The complete range of tectono-metamorphic and magmatic events affecting the Attic-Cycladic Crystalline Belt is documented by numerous petrological and tectonic studies. Phyllites and phyllonites from the ophiolitic Upper Unit yielded Rb-Sr apparent ages (phengite-whole-rock) between c. 92 and 21 Ma. The older age differs from the Cretaceous dates reported for upper unit rocks elsewhere in the Cyclades. It is suggested that the sequence studied belongs to the Jurassic ophiolites of the Hellenides rather than to Cretaceous occurrences. The spread to younger ages is related to non-pervasive rejuvenation and resetting of the Rb-Sr system during tectonic juxtaposition of the Upper Unit over the Intermediate Unit. The youngest age obtained so far for a sample from the Upper Unit (21 Ma) is believed to approximate the timing of tectonic juxtaposition which probably occurred during a regional greenschist-facies episode producing a pervasive overprint in the structurally lower tectonic unit. The major phyllite/meta-gabbro/serpentinite sequence of the Upper Unit is interpreted as an emplacement-related ductile shear zone which experienced reworking under brittle conditions. In the Intermediate Unit, a gradient in Rb-Sr ages from top (c. 40 Ma) to the bottom (c. 22 Ma) was recognized, which is interpreted to represent greater effects of fluid infiltration and overprinting in the lower parts of this unit, possibly controlled by variable intensity of deformation which might be related to tectonic juxtaposition onto the Basal Unit. We suggest that synmetamorphic stacking of all three tectonic units took place during an Oligocene-Miocene greenschist event. Extensional deformation continued after tectonic stacking and after intrusion of the main granite, as is indicated by a Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron (15.1 ± 0.6 Ma) for a ductilely deformed garnet-bearing leucogranite from the marginal parts of the main undeformed pluton. Application of the Rb-Sr dating technique provided no unequivocal evidence that previously published Eocene K-Ar and 40 Ar-39 Ar dates for high-pressure phengites from the lower units are significantly contaminated with excess argon.

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Markedly different cooling histories for the hanging-and footwall of the Vari detachment on Syros and Tinos islands, Greece, are revealed by zircon and apatite fission-track data. The Vari/Akrotiri unit in the hangingwall cooled slowly at rates of 5-15 • C Myr −1 since Late Cretaceous times. Samples from the Cycladic blueschist unit in the footwall of the detachment on Tinos Island have a mean zircon fission-track age of 10.0 ± 1.0 Ma, which together with a published mean apatite fission-track age of 9.4 ± 0.5 Ma indicates rapid cooling at rates of at least ∼ 60 • C Myr −1 . We derive a minimum slip rate of ∼ 6.5 km Myr −1 and a displacement of >∼ 20 km and propose that the development of the detachment in the thermally softened magmatic arc aided fast displacement. Intra-arc extension accomplished the final ∼ 6-9 km of exhumation of the Cycladic blueschists from ∼ 60 km depth. The fast-slipping intra-arc detachments did not cause much exhumation, but were important for regionalscale extension and the formation of the Aegean Sea.

Low-temperature eclogite-facies rocks from Syros and Tinos (Cyclades, Greece) include meta-igneous blocks of unclear origin (meta-olistostrome or tectonic mélange) with very high trace element concentrations (e.g. Zr up to 4850 ppm; Y up to 475 ppm). The unusual geochemistry is considered to be the result of metasomatic alteration in a subduction-zone environment. Locally, metasomatic exchange with an ultramafic matrix further enhanced compositional anomalies. A concordant U-Pb zircon age of 78 ± 1 Ma recorded for an omphacitite from Syros is interpreted as the time of pre-Eocene high-pressure metamorphism in the Cyclades. Zircon dates of 61 and 63 Ma for a jadeitite from Tinos possibly indicate an additional discrete event (deformation?). These results are a first geochronological indication that high-pressure metamorphism in the Cyclades commenced significantly earlier than indicated by previous white mica chronology which provided ages between c. 50 and 40 Ma.

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This paper reports new geochronological data from the island of Andros, one of the less-studied islands of the Cycladic blueschist belt in the central Aegean Sea. On Andros, two tectonic units can be distinguished, the Makrotantalon unit and the Lower unit, which are separated by a low-angle normal fault, related to large-scale regional extension. Mineral assemblages indicate greenschist-facies P–T conditions for the last metamorphic overprint of both units. In contrast to the structurally lower unit, unambiguous indications for an earlier high-pressure stage were not recognized in rocks collected above the tectonic contact. Owing to a polyphase metamorphic evolution and incomplete resetting of the Rb–Sr isotope system during overprinting, phengite geochronology indicates a wide range in dates between c. 104 and 21 Ma for the Makrotantalon unit, as observed in rocks of similar structural position elsewhere in the Cyclades. The new Rb–Sr data support the interpretation, but are not conclusive evidence, that tectonic slices within the hanging wall were affected by two periods of Cretaceous metamorphism (c. 100–90 Ma and c. 80–70 Ma) and a Miocene event (c. 21 Ma). Tectonic juxtaposition was accomplished around c. 21 Ma. The Lower unit is correlative with the Cycladic high-pressure occurrences. Rb–Sr phengite dating yielded the same range in ages as determined elsewhere in the region for white mica of high-pressure rocks (c. 50–40 Ma) and their overprinted, greenschist-facies derivatives (c. 23–21 Ma). An age gradient towards the tectonic contact with the overlying Makrotantalon unit is not developed. The new results fit well into the previously established chronological framework for the larger study area. Indications for regional differences in the timing of the HP stage and/or the greenschist-facies overprint have not yet been found.